OverviewSealed Air is a leading global innovator and manufacturer of a wide range of protective packaging.With widely recognized brands such as Bubble Wrap cushioning, Jiffy protective mailers, Instapak foamin-place systems and Cryovac packaging technology. Sealed Air continues to identify new trends, and deliver innovative solutions to its customers in 51 countries. In the fast paced technology industry, Sealed Air must ensure the continuous flow of information through all levels of the supply chain.

Situation
With more than 986 users, and only five IT administrators, Sealed Air, needed a solution that would leverage the technology of their wireless handheld devices and lower network downtime costs.

Evaluating the SolutionSealed Air manages over 200 servers and 986 BlackBerry smartphones,with the number of BlackBerry users increasing each week. With such a vast network and a limited number of administrators, Sealed Air began to actively search for ways to remotely manage their servers from their BlackBerry smartphones. They were introduced to the Rove solution at the Research in Motion Wireless Enterprise Symposium 2006 by a Rove Sales Representative. Kerry Kinchen, an Electronic Communications Analyst with Sealed Air, downloaded the free trial from the Rove website and decided very quickly that this was the perfect tool for performing a full range of network management functions from anywhere, while improving his quality of life. “As soon as I started using Mobile Admin, the benefits were felt immediately. Within minutes of using Mobile Admin, I had instantly become free. No more 12 hours days at my desk!“ exclaimed Kinchen. Some of Mobile Admin’s immediate advantages for the company included a decrease in network downtime, optimized service levels and...

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...﻿Case Writeups : SealedAirCorporation
1) What has been happening in this market? How has SealedAir (SA) been doing? To what do you attribute SA’s success?
SealedAir had achieved 25% annual growth in net sales and net earnings from 1971 to 1980. The company has been keeping a technical leadership position in the market. During 10 years, the company built on its development of the first-cell, lightweight cushioning material, introduced the first foam-in-place packaging system, and engineered the first complete solar heating system for swimming pools. Regarding the protective packaging market, the Sealed Air’s product AirCap has the feature that differentiated called “barrier-coating”. Barrier-coatng and its customer benefits had been the major driving force of Sealed Air’s AirCap cushioning sales for 10 years. Thus, SealedAir created value to its customers by building high technical product quality in its coated bubbles and by informing the customers about the benefits of coated bubbles through the efforts of its salespeople. Sealed Air’s salespeople also did “consultative selling approach” to increase its market share and profits. Moreover, the company created value for its distributors by the strength of its brand equity and the strong demand for its products. The company also used...

...1.0 INTRODUCTION
The SealedAircorporation is committed to market leadership through technological innovation. Ten years ago, the company was first to market with a highly successful coated air-bubble packaging protection product, AirCap. However, market trends indicate a rapid displacement of coated bubble by a technologically inferior yet inexpensive uncoated product. Burgeoning demand for uncoated bubble poses a direct threat to the long-term viability of the technologically superior, premium priced AirCap.
Thus SealedAir is situated at a critical standpoint. It can either continue to deal exclusively in the manufacture of high-end coated bubbles emphasizing performance over price, or segment the market by introducing an inferior, inexpensive uncoated bubble. To this end, this report will analyze the industry, competition, and company internal environment to assess the viability of targeting this low-end market segment. A strategic marketing plan for launching an uncoated product will follow.
2.0 SITUATION ANALYSIS
2.1 Industry Analysis ---state growing market.
The protective packaging industry can be segmented three ways by use: positioning, block, and bracing; flexible wraps; and void fill. Coated (e.g., AirCap) and uncoated air bubble products serve the flexible wrap and void fill markets (refer to Glossary). The flexible wrap market, which dwarfs...

...SealedAirCaseStudy
Date:11/14/2011
Section:Monday
Ziyu(Vivien) Gong A20269093
Wenxin (Chloe) Liu A20267862
Xinyun (Amy) Qiu A20275778
Yingqiu (Chris) Zhu A20272743
Chongliang (Leo) Zhuge A20266231
Ⅰ EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
SealedAirCorporation is the market leader in coated air bubble products in North America and even Europe. In 1981, the case outlined the most difficult business challenge: the rapid displacement of coated bubble by a technologically inferior yet inexpensive uncoated product.
Considering the current market trend, we recommend that SealedAir should instantly enter the uncoated market to maintain its leadership position in the market by cover more segments catered the price conscious group. Besides, we suggest that it should create a sub-brand for the uncoated product to protect its parent brand image, and decrease the production of thin coated products, which can be substitute by the uncoated one.
Ⅱ INTRODUCTION
A decade ago, SealedairCorporation was the very first company to produce a very successful coated air-bubble packaging protection product, AirCap. However, the market trend shows that uncoated bubble is becoming more popular. Emerging uncoated bubble demand, poses a direct threat to the long-term viability of technical...

...1. What has been happening in this market? How has SealedAir (SA) been doing? To what do you attribute SA’s success?
a. In the protective packaging market, there were…
- A change in packaging material from heavy, paper-based products which had dominated the market to air contained products
- A growth in the uncoated bubble market
- An unanticipated competition from several small companies which invented manufacturing processes similar to that of SealedAir and produced cheap products.
b. SealedAir has been enjoyed the technical accomplishment and market leadership with 25% average growth in the net sales and net earnings from 1971 to 1980 by …
- Differentiating itself from other competitors through “barrier-coating” technology
- Developing products with an assessment to customer’s needs. (diversifying it’s product line)
- Patent protection and licensing to only one company
- Using powerful sales force which had a consultative selling approach (well-trained with knowledge for the industry etc.)
- Partially because of packaging mentality (in the U.S market)
2. Should SA introduce an uncoated bubble to compete with GAFCEL? Why or why not?
I think it’s better for SA to enter the uncoated bubble market because..
a. The uncoated bubble market will increase, so the market could be a source for future cash inflow
- Although SA maintained a dominant position and...

...To the question of whether SealedAir should enter the uncoated bubble market, there are two possible results:
If SealedAir was to put uncoated bubble products into production, the sales might not be very satisfying because of the already crowded market of uncoated bubble products. The competition is fierce, and the many the consumers cannot tell the differences on quality, nor do they actually do the cost-savings mathematics. Price is their priority, so if Sealed Air’s uncoated bubble products are not cheaper than its competitors’, then entering this market would be a waste of money and human resources. Not to mention that the marketing cost for the new product line is obviously not going to be a small sum if they want to beat the competitors. On the other hand SealedAir cannot lessen the effort on marketing for the coated bubble products, because they would have to explain to the public why they should buy the expensive products if Sealed Air’s less expensive uncoated bubble products are as good as advertised.
If SealedAir doesn’t enter the uncoated bubble product market, and instead use the money on research to find some way to reduce the cost of their coated products and foam-in-place packaging and other products, this can also be a way of increasing sales and raising profits.
A leading company does not have to be...

...SealedAirCase Comments
Sealedaircase is a comprehensive case that captures many issues that we have discussed in the marketing course. It is also one of the best selling marketing cases and I think for some very good reasons.
Here are my comments on the case questions.
Question 2:
SealedAir created value to its customers by building high performance (technical) product quality in its coated bubbles and by educating the customers about the benefits of coated bubbles through the educational efforts of its salesforce and its brochures. Sealed Air’s salesforce also used “consultative sales approach” and provided problem solving advice to the customers. However, there are also indications that the company may be providing too high performance(technical) quality at least for some applications. The company created value for its distributors by the strength of its brand equity, the strong demand for its products and its helpful salesforce. The company also used selective distribution policy which meant less competition among distributors and thus this policy preserved the distributors’ profit margins.
Question 3:
There are several possibilities here. The important ones (not counting no response) are:
• Spend more resources in educating customers about the benefits of bubbles...

...SealedAir corporation’s (SAC) Freelance R&amp;D practise was in line with the strategy of the company. Their primary goal was in innovation and diversification of their offerings.
Hickey, CEO of SAC realised in his earlier days that SAC had promising opportunities outside the packaging market. And on top of it he realised that with the booming food industry there was a greater oppurtunity for SAC to come up with a product which will help the food processing industry in identifying and tracking the origin of meat. This would inturn increase the operational efficiency in the event there is a food recall. SAC innovated this product called Video tracking and Identification (VTID). Though the product was a success SAC had a difficulty in marketing it as a Tracking and identification product in the food processing industry. SAC also failed to penetrate into the market which monitored safety of workers. Hence SAC decided to move into food service industry especially in the QSR(Quick Serve restaurant) space.
1. Should SealedAir still try to market VTID in the QSR space? Which fast food chain should it go after? What value proposition would be most compelling to highlight?
In the QSR Segment, SAC can position itself around food safety, theft detection and waste reduction. Johnson’s strategy to position itself around food safety was to enter the market which was quite a serious concern amongst government...

...﻿Igor Petrusca
1. Describe the corporate culture at SealedAir. What is its business model? How do they make money?
From the very beginning the SealedAircorporation established itself as a company seeking market leadership and fostering technological leadership. It was a company of “firsts”. In essence, its philosophy was based on the belief that innovation is a customer-generated process and that it brings about market leadership which in turn means greater and sustainable profits. That is why the production initiation process was preceded by the analysis of customers’ needs. This customer-oriented approach was also present in its extensive efforts at market education of the customer with regard to the advantages of coated bubbles and creation of products that were cost-effective substitutes for the low quality alternatives in the protective packaging market. Also part of its philosophy was a “consultative selling approach” through which salespeople spent most of their time making cost-effective research on the products at end-user locations. This not only created brand awareness, educated customers about the advantages of the coated bubble packaging and the importance of quality but also created loyalty between customers and the firm. It is not surprising then that the customers perceived the sealedair salespeople as among the best trained and knowledgeable in the...